For Conan O'Brien, this morning's TBS upfront presentation was just another pit stop on his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour, and he opened the Hammerstein Ballroom show with a video sketch that found him lazing around his house in a fat suit, eating pizza, jumping on a trampoline in sweats, and answering the phone ("Hello, job!?...No, there is no Debbie here"). Eventually, Conan appeared to wild applause from the crowd of reporters, a premiere date for his show was announced -- November 8 -- and he launched into his new material. Here were his 6 best jokes:
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In V's season finale, Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell) proved a very ungrateful guest when she seized Anna's conciliatory dinner party invitation as an opportunity to blow up the super soldier eggs Anna's been so eagerly tending to for the past couple weeks. But this wouldn't be V if a lot of things didn't go horribly, irreconcilably wrong, now would it? Read on for a breakdown of the dueling species tactics in last night's Red Sky.
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If you have ever fantasized about seeing Jay Leno do nude backflips, get excited because the Tonight Show host did just that -- or his stunt double did -- during a pre-taped sketch last night that featured a cat-crank ring and two special guest stars. Elsewhere on late night, Jonah Hill talked about his in-flight fight club and Jane Lynch talked about "whoring her cookies" for this week's upfront events. Click through for those highlights, as well as a few others that you missed last night while mourning the seven CBS series tragically killed off yesterday.
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What has gotten into the water over at CBS? After canceling no less than seven shows yesterday, the Tiffany Network has now announced a complete overhaul of their schedule for the fall season. Do you like The Big Bang Theory? Well you're going to love it on Thursday nights at 8. (Sorry Community, good luck getting viewers now.) A big fan of the comedy stylings of Gary Sinise on CSI: NY? Don't make any plans for Friday nights then, since that's where CBS dumped the spin-off. Still have a thing for David Caruso's shades on CSI: Miami? The future is now bright on Sundays at 10. After the jump, the full schedule. You might want to grab a pencil.
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Rather than wait for CNN to drop the ax on her and her 8 p.m. broadcast, Campbell Brown fell on her sword Tuesday. The news show host announced she'd be leaving the network because, in her words, "not enough people want to watch my program, and I owe it to myself and to CNN to get out of the way so that CNN can try something else." No bias, no bull, indeed!
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Three singers. Six songs. A thousand depilated Seacrest neck hairs. Millions of "uhs" from the judges. One billion subliminal Coke mentions. For 60 minutes last night, the numbers added up to one grueling Top 3 week on American Idol. The heat was on as the remaining three vocalists sang two covers for the approval of our texting digits. So, who's going on to the finale? Is it Crystal Bowersox, Lee DeWyze, or Casey James? We've ranked all six performances from last night, and our recommendation for the Final Two is crystal er, startlingly clear.
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· Later this morning, CBS will makes its upfront presentation but one pilot may be mysteriously missing from the pick-ups: Mad Love. The Eye is reportedly passing on the project after it could not nail down Lizzy Caplan as a regular lead because of her allegiance to Party Down and a few other film projects in the works. The actress filmed the pilot as a favor and the network liked her but she allegedly rebuffed all of the Eye's offers to sign on as a lead. If Mad Love does survive, it will probably be a midseason pickup -- with Caplan returning in guest star capacity -- or it will be reshot in the summer. [Deadline]
Larry David relocates his Enthusiasm, Olivia Wilde gets out of the House, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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Strange things are afoot at Seattle Grace Mercy West, and they don't all have to do with that mouthful of a hospital name. It appears that Grey's Anatomy executive producer Shonda Rhimes has gotten over her famously spoiler-phobic ways... with extreme vengeance. ABC -- presumably with blessing from Rhimes -- has released the first act of Thursday's two-hour season finale to Hulu, and it's filled with more plot points and reveals than a rejected script for Wild Things 6: Dangerous Orgy, written on spec. For instance, can you believe Rhimes allowed the network to show that...
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ABC is following up the success of its reality shows, quirky family hits, and time-and-space-defying classics with... eight new, completely middle-of-the-road shows. In these trailers for the network's fall programming, we have Matthew Perry's newest comeback attempt, a starring role for Elisha Cuthbert, and Shonda Rhimes' latest offering, and Movieline's giving their potential the yay-or-nay treatment. NBC's upcoming crop fared well with us and Fox performed even better this morning -- let's see if ABC's new octet can outclass the minds at Murdoch Manor.
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Last week on the Real Housewives of New Jersey, Danielle sacrificed her virginal 15-year-old daughter to the fashion industry in exchange for trips to Milan and trash bags full of cash. Danielle came one step closer to realizing that dream during last night's episode, "Catty Walk," when her daughter worked the runway at New York Fashion Week -- and when I say worked the runway, I mean that the poor girl dry-heaved until she was escorted out of the show while her oblivious mother chatted up anyone with a microphone. Meanwhile, in a tent across the park, 10 months-pregnant Teresa watched as her kindergarten-aged daughter introduced the fashion world to the Gia Giudice street walk -- part attitude, part hooker hip shake. So please, follow us down the runway for last night's real and fake jackpot winners.
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Even if Crystal Bowersox ranks among American Idol's finest talents (and I believe she does), something's rotten in the state of Seacrest this year. Last season, Idol rejuvenated itself with a blend of personalities -- from subtle craftsman Kris Allen to sparkle sorcerer Adam Lambert. This season's Idol cast is dogged by a number of distracting elements -- and worst, the Idol-consuming populace is confused over the true culprits in this fiasco. Thus, we're ranking the five biggest contributors to Idol's weakest year. Hopefully number one will start to garner the skewering it deserves. Daggers ready!
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Just when you thought that you couldn't possibly get any other pickup information on this beautiful upfront Tuesday, the CW has announced its own female-friendly additions, which feature one actress who kicks ass and another who performs kick twist basket tosses. Meanwhile, the network is quietly dropping a project that could have given Gilmore Girls fans new reason to hang on.
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Daytime Emmy voters may not have taken notice of James Franco's stint on General Hospital, but he's giving them one last chance to be impressed. The busy actor will return to the show on June 30 for an installment teeming with intrigue, murder, and "performance art the likes of which the audience has never seen before." Finally, something to look forward to after the Lost finale. [Soapnet]
Fox has released trailers for six of its new fall shows, and the series' talking points scintillate: there's the reappearance of Will Arnett, the comeback of Jon Voight, the next generation of Fox animation, and a new spin on the relationship comedy, among others. But not all of these offerings deliver on their promise, and Movieline's breaking down each of the six trailers with a simple "yay" or "nay" vote, keeping these judgment calls as gladiatorial as possible. So, are these burgers well done or too pink for consumption?
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Well, this is unexpected. Mere hours after announcing an expensive new deal with Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen, CBS has elsewhere cleaned house, wiping seven series from its slate. Some, like Miami Medical, were expected cancellations, but others, including the eternally on-the-bubble The New Adventures of Old Christine -- which earned star Julia Louis-Dreyfus four Emmy nominations and one win -- were a little more surprising.
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